Mistaken Identity: Take Two
by Moghedian
Summary: A re-write of Hitochigae: Mistaken Identity. This story follows Naruto and Hinata's daughter as she is kidnapped by mistake and swept into the beginnings a secret war. Takes place 15 years after Mokushita Hyuuga. OCxOC mostly OC story
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

_Great._ This was the thought of a young girl who was currently grinding her teeth against the dirty and rather gross tasting rag that had been tied around her head in place of a gag. Her eyebrows were lowered and she was glaring at the ground as it slowly came closer and moved farther away. Glaring at the large man who had an almost too tight grip around her waist, the girl tried to sneer.

The sudden lurching to a stop of The Giant, as the girl dubbed him, made his shoulder press into her stomach sharply. The girl groaned loudly, but the gag muffled it. The Giant took a quick look back at the girl, and went back to observing the area. Leaning down, he deposited her on the tree branch that was creaking under his weight.

The girl watched as her napper blocked the sun with a raised hand and peered around for followers. Narrowing his eyes in the bright light of noonday he wiped off the sheen of sweat and shook his hand, getting a few droplets on the girl's face, much to her disgust. She watched him seem to focus for a few seconds before he grabbed her roughly again and threw her back up onto his surprisingly sharp shoulder. She tried to shout, but the gag muffled it.

"Don't try to talk." He said flatly. The girl tried to purse her lips, but it looked ridiculous with the gag. She wrinkled her nose, a habit that she picked up from observing her mother, who was probably tearing down half the forest looking for her. Along with her father and her older brother, the girl's family made a nearly unstoppable team. Not that they often teamed up. Her father was usually too busy with work to even spend quality time with her anyway. Her mother usually accompanied her father, and her brother was too busy looking after his own family. In fact, the one she was missing the most, was her nerdy friend, Kimihiro, Hiro for short. He went to civilian school, but they had often walked home together, as the Academy was a few blocks away. He was taller than her, gangly, and had really thick glasses.

The girl's eyes started to burn as they built up small wells of tears that threatened to spill over onto her cheeks. She couldn't think of anything that could help her. The Giant was huge enough that even if she were free of all binds, and didn't have the pounding headache he had given her when he initially stole her AWAY; she didn't think she could do much damage. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last time, her petite size was a hindrance in the ninja world.

The constant motion of going up and down as The Giant flew across the tree tops to only god knows where, was starting to make the girl drowsy and a little sick. Squirming, The Giant responded by pinched her thigh. The girl tired to shout, and The Giant just laughed. The girl swung her head around and winced when a few strands of her red hair hit her in the eye. Blinking and moaning seemed to make the pain go away faster, but the girl scowled when she thought she felt The Giant chuckle.

Swearing through the gag, she felt The Giant tense up. For the second time in the hour of shoulder travel, the girl was jabbed in the stomach with the large man's shoulder as he came to an abrupt halt. Looking around quickly, as if trying to see in all different directions at once. The seriousness of The Giant was making the girl worried.

Feeling about in her chakra reserves, she realized how little she had left. She was surprised that she was even still conscious. A rustle in a tree about 50 feet away from The Giant and his captive caught both of their attention. The girl saw the one thing she wanted to see the most, a white mask designed to resemble an animal of some sort worn on an average height person dropped down from the upper level of trees to their level. The girl started squirming and shouting through her gag again, almost crying at how glad she was to see an ANBU. The Giant grunted sourly and gave the girl a hearty slap on the rear end, causing her face to light up like a tomato.

The ANBU flashed his hands through a complicated set of seals and a small but fast dragon made of water jetted out towards the Giant, piercing directly into his shoulder. Almost dropping his prize, The Giant grabbed the wound with his other hand and weighed his options. He could stay and fight, waste chakra and time, or he could run and risk leading the pesky ANBU to his rendezvous point with his partner. Glancing at the small struggling redhead, he shook his head and took off towards the rendezvous point, his partner was a lot stronger in fighting these kind of people than he was, he could take care of it.

Despite his size, The Giant was pretty quick, and quickly lost sight of the ANBU, much to the girl's dismay. She was pretty sure he was close by though. If only she had more chakra! Blinking back frustrated tears, the girl squirmed again as The Giant used huge chakra boosts to jump higher and farther than the girl had ever done. It was dizzying.

A jet of water shot out from the trees behind the Giant and pierced his shoulder in about the same spot as the first one, causing the man to let out a loud grunt. He faltered in his running and in the moment of weakness, he let his grip slip on the small statured girl. Not one to look a horse in the mouth, the girl wriggled and squirmed as hard as her tired little body let her. The look on the giant's face as she slipped off the side of his shoulder was priceless. Pushing her feet out she braced her ankles to land on the tree branch below her when she saw the Giant's face flash a scowl at her before a jet of water struck the side of his head, scaring the girl enough to jar her concentration.

She felt her foot hit the branch, and then she slipped. Her heart wrenched painfully as it missed a few beats. Falling was the worst feeling ever. She could stand heights no problem, but falling? It was the stuff nightmares were made of. The worst part about this fall was that everything was in slow motion, letting her absorb every detail as she watched the branch she should have landed on inch it's way past her head. She heard the ANBU shout, but when she twisted to look at him her back struck a branch as thick as her wrist. The limb snapped off and took the girl's breath with it.

The force of the way she hit the branch pushed her body forward and she continued to fall head first down the tall trees into the forest below. Cuts formed on any exposed skin from the smaller branches whipping her, and bruises would no doubt form from the branches she was hitting. She at least had enough sense to tuck her head between her arms, but even that was pushing it. Lack of Chakra coupled with the whole kidnapping business was taking its toll on her, and at the moment, the only she truly wished for was that everything would overwhelm her and steal her away before she hit the ground.

Fortunately for her, the gods were listening, and she slipped into the darkness a mere second before a dull crunching thud echoed throughout the forest.

* * *

A young man, no more than sixteen years of age, snapped his head around to focus on the crunching noise. He battled inside of himself on whether or not to go and see if it was merely a side effect of the two battling on the canopy above. Carefully withdrawing his chakra into a tiny ball in his stomach, the so called centre of the chakra sea, he crept with every inch of stealth he had in his bones, and made his way over to where the sound had alerted him.

Occasionally a stream of water would drill a hole through a tree a few inches from his head, or a broken branch would nearly crush him, but he continued, unwavering, towards what he could now see was indeed what he was looking for. He was pretty sure, at least. Glancing up for a fraction of a second, he could tell that the Gigantic man he had caught a glimpse of earlier was dangerously outclassed by the Konoha ANBU, and that the battle would be over quickly. He knew that the broken looking girl that lay in a twisted pile of what was probably broken limbs was something Konoha didn't want to lose, and that if he had any chance of taking it, he would have to move quickly and quietly.

Stealing another glance up, he bit his lip and tried not to scrunch his eye shut. Letting his chakra out from the tightly compact ball her had formed with it, he immediately tried to channel most of it to his legs to sprint to the girl's body, but some of it got loose. Not a lot, he was too good to let out that much, but the ANBU was definitely sensitive enough to pick up what he did let out. He felt the ANBU's attention shift towards him for a second before the Giant did something that caught him off guard, knocking him into the trunk of a tree with enough force to break his mask. The giant paused, allowing himself a short break. He let his hands rest on his knees as sweat poured off of him. He wasn't cut out to fight these tiny little ninjutsu users; give him a taijutsu specialist and see what he could do then.

Grunting and smirking at the thought, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. he knew there would be more ANBU the next time. He needed to get to the rendezvous point and fast. Dropping down out of the trees, he landed roughly on the ground and glanced around for the girl. She had been wearing a light purple jacket on, she couldn't have been too hard to spot, but to the giant's horror, he couldn't see her anywhere. Ripping up bushes his rage grew exponentially with every bush he tore out of the ground. It was pure chance and luck that he happened to look up while throwing a bush above his head in anger, that he saw a teenager carrying an unconscious girl on his shoulders. He had a bright red scarf that matched the girl's hair, and with every second that the Giant stared, they got farther and farther away. The tall man roared with enough force to scare the birds out of the trees, and bounced after the pair, quite literally, seeing red.

The young man swore to himself. He knew he could outrun the tired man easily, but he wasn't so sure he could with the added weight of an unconscious girl… at least without damaging her anymore than she already was. He knew he could just stop and kill the man, no dilly dallying, and be on with it, but the chakra that was needed for the jutsu would definitely alert the numerous ANBU that were already on the man's trail. sighing, he decided it wasn't worth the risk, and with any luck, the man would fall behind and the ANBU would capture him without thinking to chase after the girl for at least a few minutes, and that's all he needed to disappear.

The girl's leg twitched slightly, and the young man looked at her in wonder. He had been running for nearly 15 minutes straight. He felt chakra being used and surmised that the ANBU had to fight, at least for a minute before they had either killed or incapacitated the Giant man. Sending another burst of Chakra into his legs, the young man sprinted ahead, being careful to not leave behind any easily traced residues behind. If Konoha wanted to track him down, they were going to have to call in a specialist; he hadn't earned the nickname "Ghost Child" for nothing.

Crossing a bridge that connected a large ravine, the man stopped only to cut the bridge. The jump wasn't too terribly far for a good shinobi, but it would require a good boost, and that meant that his pursuers would use just that much more chakra. The girl twitched her leg again, this time with more force. He looked at her with wonder. He was pretty sure she should be knocked out cold, at least for a few hours, if not a few days. Hoping that she was just having a nice dream, he continued, running as fast as his body would let him while leaving his trail nearly untraceable.

The sun had set and the moon had risen fully before the man finally stopped. He had reached his limit, and he was absolutely grateful to his mother for putting him through all of those control and endurance lessons. Gulping breaths of air and trying to calm his heart down, he found the cluster of boulders he had been looking for. doggedly dragging himself and the girl on his shoulder around to the other side, he found the stone he had been looking for. Pushing it over, it revealed the cluster of boulders to be hollowed out, creating a room where he could rest and not worry about the ANBU finding him, at least, for the night. When he got back, he was definitely going to thank Nue for teaching him this dojutsu.

Laying the girl down gently, he untied the red scarf from his neck and picked out various herbs and bandages that he store, among other things, in small pouches he had spent hours sewing into the article of clothing. bandaging her worst wounds, which were centered mainly on her forehead, which she had landed on, and her back, which had taken the brunt of most of the branches. He saw that both of her forearms had breaks, her left arm was cleaning snapped in half, leaving her arm bent at a weird angle in a place that no arm should bend. Her right fared little better, a few fractures was the most of what he could tell with his pathetically underdeveloped diagnostic jutsu. Her legs, other than bruises and cuts, were thankfully un-broken, which would be a lot more helpful in the long run. Her skull, around where she had split it open, was cracked and fractured in a spider web pattern. She was going to have a massive headache when she woke up. If she ever woke up. The young man would not have been surprised to see that the girl merely slip into a coma and never wake.

Setting the bones on her arm back into place made him nauseas, and he was definitely glad that she wasn't awake, not that it stopped the small cry that had escaped her lips. Tying his scarf around both of her arms as a makeshift splint until the morning, the young man sat back, admired his work, and yawned. He had used almost all of his chakra up running from the persistent ANBU. They had fallen back a few hours into the chase, or the man had gotten far away enough that he couldn't sense them anymore. Either was good, it gave him time to rest and recover.

Lying down on the mossy ground, he didn't even have time to think about how uncomfortable he was before he passed out.

* * *

Smiling to himself, he pressed his face into the warm pillow his face was rested on. he loved it when the sun shone directly onto his pillow. There was nothing like waking up to a preheated piece of cloud. pushing his nose deeper into the warmness, his fingers reached out for his blanket, but grabbed moss instead. Moss? He shot straight up, cracking his head on the ceiling. Swearing loudly and rubbing his head, he tried to cover up (but not succeeding) the blush that had taken root on his face. He had been lying on the girl's bare stomach; his face had been mere inches below her bound breasts. The girl's arms were still in the same position as the previous night, bent double at the elbows and tied in a way that would prevent movement, thankfully the way she was laying forced her red swathed hands and arms to be covering her chest, otherwise he might have awoken just a bit north.

Shaking his head of thoughts that were unnecessary, he checked the bindings on her forehead and back, amazed at her recovery rate. Whereas the welts and smaller slices seemed to be untouched, and the bruises that had yet to form the previous night had formed, turning most of the girl's porcelain skin into a black, blue, purple, and green looking mass of colours, the gash on her forehead and back had completely scabbed over, and after a quick diagnostic jutsu, he was pretty sure the fractures on her skull were starting to knit together already.

He really needed this girl to live. She was crucial to his mission. Grabbing the paper in his pocket, he sat back and tried, futilely, to smooth it out on his knee. The ink was fading a bit, and the writing itself was chicken scratch. It was the mission objective he had pulled off of an older man he had met the previous day. He had a bit of trouble dispatching him, but the old man seemed to not be bothered by the fact that missions were supposed to be classified and rattled off before the fighting had begun. He was definitely the man he had been looking for. Searching the body, after snubbing the campfire had proved useful; the old man had carried a copy of his mission outline. What an idiot.

Apparently, he and another man whose name he couldn't make out, were supposed to kidnap a Branch member of the Hyuuga, now that none of them were marked with the seal, they were easy pickings. They specified a specific girl, known for something that the young man couldn't make out. They included a description of the girl; she was young, around 7 or 8, she had cropped black hair and milky white eyes. Glancing over at his new prisoner, he saw that she was indeed young, but most likely around 12 or 13. She had bright vermillion hair that stood out in all directions stopped at about chin level. After a quick check, he did confirm that although the Giant man was obviously either incompetent, or illiterate, as this was obviously not the Hyuuga girl he was set out nap, the girl was at least a Hyuuga. Or blind. He sure hoped not though. it took a lot of work to plan this little trip, and he'd be damned if it was ruined by a giant man's stupidity. Crunching the paper in his hands, the man quickly left to find some proper wood for splints.

* * *

The girl woke in the dark, and for a second she thought she was dead. That was until pain assaulted her from everywhere. She let out a scream that would spook the dead, and as soon as her breath ran out, she drew another deep one and screamed again, and again, and continued to scream until someone clamped their hand over her mouth. The girl stopped screaming and let fountains of tears work their way down her face, sobbing from the intensity of the pain. Her companion rubbed her temples gently, as one of the most painful places was very near his fingers. He stuck a few pieces of a bitter tasting herb in her mouth and calmly told her to chew. Not even suspecting poison she chewed. If she could think coherently, she probably wouldn't have even cared if it was poison, anything to stop the pain.

The herb was bitter, but with gentle coaxing of her unseen companion, she kept gnawing at it until the sharp stabbing pains had dulled enough that she felt like she could form coherent words.

"What happened?" She said slowly, the herb was starting to make her drowsy. The figure above her paused his rubbing for a second until the girl gave a little whimper. He started his slow circles again and said,

"You fell from a tree when that man was trying to kidnap you." Memories flooded the girl's head, making it pound even harder. This was good, she must be in the hospital, or on her way back home by now. The young man's soothing circles were starting to make her drowsy.

"Who?" She could have never imagined a single word to be so hard to say. The man hesitated for a fraction of a second before saying,

"Byakko." the girl nodded slowly, regretting it as pain shot up her back and into her head, making the pounding feel more like stabbing. She tried to point to herself, but her arms were tied up, extremely sore, and felt bulgy. Hoping he got the point with her small flail, she said, slurring every letter,

"Haneko." She tried to say her thanks to the man, who was at least trying to ease her pain somewhat, but the floor started to spin, and she slipped down into a deeper kind of darkness.

Byakko kept rubbing her temples until her breathing was even. As he pulled the long stick of numbing herbs that midwives often used to ease labour pains out of Haneko's mouth, he was continually amazed by the rate at which the girl was recovering. It had been only 2 days she had fallen, and here she was forming coherent words. He felt pity for the amount of pain she was in. He wished that he had an ounce of talent in the medic nin field. All he had to rely on was the basic training all academies offered, and the herbs and natural remedies his father, being a sort of medic himself had taught him over the years.

While the bruises and the large scabs she had on her face and back hadn't healed noticeably after the first day there, almost all of her smaller cuts and welts had healed, with a few of the larger ones scabbed up. The bones in her skull were knitting together at an alarming rate, while the ones in her arms were just as bad, and pretty much looked like they had had two days to heal. It seemed to Byakko like Haneko's body was picking and choosing the worst wounds to heal first. Very strange indeed.

Tonight they resided inside of a hollowed tree stump. He had been very reluctant to move her, but he could start to feel chakra approach, and he couldn't push it any farther. He sped as fast as he could without aggravating her wounds too much, and at the end of the day, he almost passed out with exhaustion before he could even summon up enough energy to do the relatively simply jutsu. He knew that at this grueling pace he was going to crash soon. He hadn't eaten in nearly three days, not to mention his only form of water came from a brief period where it had rained. He needed to get to a village, where he could get a proper bed, and erase his trail thoroughly enough that he could take a few days rest, and get proper medical supplies for his newly acquired friend. Grimacing at the distance he would need to cover, Byakko slipped back into sleep, hoping that he wouldn't be awoken again to screams of pain.

END

Start!

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Looking over her shoulder, Haneko sighed at the pitifully small pile of weeds on the ground, and looking forward, she sighed at the large amount of weeds yet to be picked.

"Stupid D missions… We're Chuunin! This is Genin material!" Haneko heard muttered to her left. Glancing over, she saw her taller team mate angrily rip random weeds out.

"Taichi-kun! You're pulling the herbs out too! Stop!" Haneko said, surprised that Taichi showed frustration. He was usually calm and calculating. The heat must be getting to him.

Taichi stood up and sighed, his Chuunin vest was laying on the ground in a crumpled heap, and his bare upper half was shining with sweat. Haneko stood up as well and wiped the sweat off her forehead in an attempt to hide the small blush that graced her cheeks. She had no desire to deal with his cocky attitude that persisted through from their Genin era, but she couldn't deny that she enjoyed looking at him, along with the rest of the girls their age in Konoha.

It was the middle of an unusually hot summer. The sun was sweltering and HIGH and Haneko had no doubts why this place was called the Land of Fire. Looking over to her right, she saw her last team mate still enthusiastically picking the weeds. His pile was nearly three times the size of Taichi and Haneko's combined, yet he had not a single amount of smugness about him. his hiteate was pushed up and tied around his forehead to keep his burgundy hair and sweat out of his eyes. Looking up at Haneko, he smiled and stopped picking weeds. Standing straight, he raised his hand and gave Haneko a gigantic thumbs up, all while smiling brightly, his frighteningly white teeth glinting in the harsh summer sun. Haneko and Taichi both shared a look of dismay on their faces.

"Don't give up! Let the power of youth lead you down the path of right! Hokage-sama gave us an important mission to complete in our genin-chan's absence!" Haneko put her face in her hands and groaned loudly. Her youthful teammate promptly ignored the faces his teammates had given him, he was much too used to it by now, and went back to picking the weeds at a blinding pace.

"Ho-kun..." Taichi didn't say anything, but bent over and roughly replanted the herbs he had accidently pulled up. _Why couldn't I have been stuck on team 12?_ Haneko thought despairingly.

Her entire life, from the moment she could activate her Byakugan her mother and father both agreed that she was suited to be in a tracking team like her mother had before her. She had spent years training in stealth, not just from her family, but her mother had even managed to pull favours from the Inuzukas and Aburames. She even had a few sessions with her Mother's friend Ino on the finer details of espionage, which was basically a continuation of the kunoichi training in academy, and although she wasn't supposed to mention it to her mother, Ino let her brush into the basics of interrogation and manipulation.

So naturally, Haneko was devastated when the tracking based team, two Inuzuka cousins, were partnered with the Matatabi girl. A girl from a family that had moved to Konoha from Suna. Her family worked with cats, and she was immediately on edge with the boys. What the Hokage was thinking when he approved that team was something incomprehensible to Haneko. Every day she wished that she was on that team, she had grown up with the Inuzukas, played in their 'packs', she would have been the perfect teammate! Haneko sighed angrily, she was stressing herself out. A figure approached the three teammates and waved as furiously as he could as soon as he was in visible range.

"Fei-sensei!" Ho yelled out, his green jumpsuit clashing horrible with his burgundy bowl cut.

"Ho!" The tall, black haired, blue eyed man yelled back, his own matching green jumpsuit fared slightly better in terms of clashing, but it was still a horrendous piece of clothing and Haneko wished that they would wear something different and stop embarrassing her to death everything they went out into public.

"Fei-sensei! I have a query!" Ho shouted, making Haneko wince.

"Yes, my youthful student! Anything I can do to ensure that you are full of the flame of youth!" Taichi sighed dismissively and look off to the side.

"May we visit Lee-sensei after this mission? I have something I wish to ask him!" Fei's eyes sparkled at the mention of his Jounin Sensei. Lee was a miracle case. During the last great shinobi war, Lee was badly injured, his spine was broken in several places and his arms were fractured into practically dust, but the medical expertise of the Godaime and the Medical Sennin, Uchiha Sakura, saved him. All that was left of his heinous injury was a terrible scar that extends from his hip, all the around his back, and up to his cheek. He still limped slightly when he walked, but was a very capable fighter.

"YES HO-KUN! WE WILL VISIT LEE-SENSEI!" Fei shouted, pumping his three fingered fist into the air, another reminder of the war Haneko had been born just after. Ho started imitated Fei, pumping his own fist into the air excitedly. Haneko nearly cried as she watched the old woman who owned the garden laugh from her doorframe.

"Fei-sensei, please. We need to report to the Hokage so that we can go home. It's too hot to do another mission." Haneko said, nearly whining.

"What has happened to my student's Flame of Youth?!" Fei shouted. Ho's black eyes sparkled with unspoken glee, and Taichi strained to remain calm.

"I left it at home. It was melting from the heat. Let's just go." Haneko said in a very flat tone. Fei gave a hearty laugh and strut the rest of the way to the tower, followed closely by a green spandex-clad student. Haneko looked at Taichi, who in turned rolled his eyes, before slipping her already unzipped lavender belly top jacket off and tying it around her waist. Taichi snuck a glance at her exposed torso and let a smile tug the corner of his lip.

* * *

"Well, I suppose that solves the problem of asking for the day off, Hokage-sama wasn't even there." Taichi said, and snorted, stuck between being glad for the time off, or being offended that he wasn't there. Haneko giggled softly as she watched Ho and Fei race to Lee's small apartment on the other side of the village.

"Don't be like that; you know he's probably in a meeting." Taichi shrugged and grabbed Haneko's arm, pulling her out of the way of a peculiar man in a long white coat. Taichi made an angry noise and the man stopped a few steps past them. Looking back over his shoulder through his small smart looking glasses, his eyes lit up in recognition.

"Ahh! Haneko-chan! Is my father inside?" Haneko shook her head and said,

"I didn't see him. He might be in a meeting with the Hokage." The man nodded slowly, checked his watch and looked at the paper in his hands.

"Sara's been looking for me. If you see her tell her that the scroll she wants is with Iro or Kiro. One of them." Haneko nodded and continued down the stairs, abreast with Taichi.

"Oh yea, you have a meeting with your aunt tonight at 7, don't forget again, I don't think she'll let you go with just a few tenketsus closed this time." Haneko's face burned in embarrassment as she nodded curtly and all but dragged Taichi down the stairs. Taichi looked up at the man and then at his teammate.

"Who was that? I don't think I have ever seen him before and with hair like that…" Taichi hesitated and stole another glance up at the man, "…I think I'd remember a man with pink hair." Haneko shrugged noncommittally.

"That's Osshi-ni…Or Osshimakuru as he likes to be called by people other than family. He's my Dad's teammate's kid. He used to babysit me when Kouden-ni was too busy. He's kind of like my adopted brother now." Taichi exclaimed,

"Wait, wait, does that mean he's an Uchiha?" Haneko let her eyebrows climb.

"Yea? So what? He's a doctor and stays in the hospital most of the time. This is actually the first time I haven't seen him either in the hospital or in the complex with his wives." It was Taichi's turn to let his eyebrows climb.

"Wives?" Haneko sighed.

"Long story." Taichi continued to look at her, but Haneko shook her head.

"A seriously long story. It's way too hot. If you drop by tomorrow I'll tell you. I can get a nice cold lunch for us from the kitchens." Taichi shrugged and the pair continued down the main street, bustling with activity despite the heat.

"Haaannnneeee!!!" Both Taichi and Haneko turned their heads in the direction of the shout. A girl, not much older than Haneko herself, stood bent over and panting. Her short cropped black hair glinted blue in the sun. Behind her following at a much slower pace was a boy with dirty blonde hair pulled into a thick ponytail. He shot a bored look over at the pair of Chuunin as he stopped. The girl, still panting slightly, said between gasps,

"Hane, have you … seen my brother? He's not at the hospital… or with the sisters." Haneko shrugged.

"I actually just ran into him about 20 minutes ago. He told me to tell you if I saw you that Kiro-san or Iro-san has whatever you were looking for. I think he was going to meet up with Sasuke-ji." Sara let her hand rest gratefully on Haneko's shoulder before turning to her partner. Grabbing his hand she started to drag him down the street.

"C'mon, Tayoumaru. I knew he was hiding the stupid scroll from me. I can teach you the first one before you leave tomorrow!" Haneko gave a small chuckle as Tayoumaru sighed, a mumbled 'mendokuse' floating out of his mouth. Turning to Taichi Haneko said softly,

"I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" Taichi gave a stiff nod and turned to leave. Haneko pouted a bit at the unresponsiveness of her teammate. Sighing and turning into the large manor that housed all of the Hyuuga, save for Neji and Tenten, she nodded respectfully towards the guards, and gave a friendly smile towards anyone she saw, branch or main family. A few of the cousins stopped to ruffle her hair or pinch her cheek. A few of the older Branch members wore bandages around their foreheads to cover up the green cage seal that had been placed there during their youth at sometime. Haneko started to frown. As soon as her mother had returned from her time as a missing-nin, the first thing she had done was destroy any scroll that had to do with applying and using the seal. Most of the clan elders were already either dead or too old to use chakra, and the only people with the knowledge to activate it were Hanabi, and Hinata. That secret would die with them.

Now a days, a new seal, one applied to the base of every child's neck, where the Byakugan's blind spot was, was administered. Tsunade herself had developed the seal during the first few years of her retirement. If a sealed user died, the eyes would be sealed, same as the old seal, except this seal was harmless and could not be used to do anything. It was little more than a tattoo until one died. Haneko rubbed the back of her neck, where the spiked seal that roughly looked like a bird was imprinted in faded dark blue.

"Haneko-sama! You have a message!" Haneko glanced up at the elderly maid who had taken care of her as a child. Her heart was pounding; the old woman had snuck up on her. Handing the girl a piece of paper, Haneko unfolded it as she waltzed away.

_Koneha, meet me on number 4 before your meeting with your Aunt. _Haneko smiled. Koneha was her friend Hiro's nickname for her. Hiro was a civilian, surprisingly, who had attended the large primary school that all children attended, before they chose to split off into the Ninja Academy, or the Civilian Academy.

Slipping into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before she intended to depart to meet up with Hiro, Haneko gasped in surprise. A shorter woman, only a few inches taller than Haneko herself, with her long indigo hair pulled up into a rough bun was shoving a cinnamon roll into her mouth. The woman gasped, partially choking, and Haneko gave a giggle.  
"What? I really like Kimiko's rolls." The older woman said, undignified. Streaks of silver shot out from the area around her ears, but her face remained mostly smooth, giving her an aged beauty that Haneko could only hope for when she was her age. Slipping in close to the woman, she slipped her arms around her waist and gave her a hug. The woman returned the hug, kissing the red-head's forehead.

"You look just like your grandmother, you know?" Haneko smiled.  
"Which one, Mom?" She asked and Hinata smiled softly.

"You may have Kushina-san's hair colour, but you most certainly look like my mother. You even have her nose." Hinata poked her daughter's nose and Haneko giggled. She knew she was the baby of the family, and while sometimes it was a annoying, she enjoyed the cuddles and coddles she received every once in a while.

"Mmm, don't you have a meeting with Hanabi tonight?" Haneko sighed and pulled back a bit.

"Do I have too? Hiro wants to meet up with me in a few minutes." Hinata glanced at the clock, slight disapproval tugging the corners of her lips down.

"You had better not be late again. Remember what Hanabi did last time. I won't defend you this time either." Haneko winced. Giving her mother one last hug, she said,

"I'll see you later!" Hinata waved at her second born, dread filling her chest for some reason. Shrugging it off, Hinata stole another roll before slipping out into the hall to attend her duties as tutor for the youngest generation of Hyuuga.

* * *

Haneko set her speed at full as she opted to take the shortcut to the top of the Yondaime's head. Pushing chakra into her feet, she sped straight up the side of the cliff, startling Hiro so bad he almost fell off the cliff himself, when she popped right up over the edge.  
Falling to the ground beside the black haired boy Haneko crossed her arms under her head and gazed at the still sunny sky. Hiro lowered himself down to do the same. He let his eyes linger over Haneko for a second too long and ended up as red as a tomato. The crush he had on the Hyuuga princess had faded somewhat since they were children, but it still popped up every now and then. Laying his head down on the ground, Haneko said, breaking the silence,

"Something wrong Hiro. You aren't talking about school, or work, or Ando-san. Is everything ok?" Hiro winced; he didn't think she would have noticed. Sighing, Hiro said,

"Um, yea. Sorry that I wasn't able to see you this week… I've just been really tired." Haneko noted his swerving of the conversation and said, lightly,

"Does this have to do with your Dad?" Hiro smirked, Haneko knew him too well.

"Kind of. He came to the store today and demanded that my mother hand over the rest of the junk he had left in the shed. My mother would have agreed normally, but he came in and made a scene, and you know how mum is." Haneko smirked and nodded slightly. She was pigheaded when someone tried to start a fight with her. Something, thankfully, Hiro hadn't inherited much of.

"How is Ando-san? I haven't seen him a while." Hiro was silent, fighting the pressure that seemed to build in his chest. Haneko looked over at him and frowned.

"Is he hurt? I had heard that he had gone with his Genin team to the edge of the fire nation. Hiro?" Hiro frowned.

"He… He didn't come back." Haneko let her mouth drop. Sitting up she gaped.

"What? What do you mean he didn't come back?" Tears started to well in the red-heads eyes, and Hiro tried to shrug.

"He protected his teammate from an enemy attack, and died. His name will be carved on the cenograph tomorrow after his funeral." Haneko pulled the boy into a hug, one which he accepted gratefully. The bushes behind Haneko and Hiro rustled, drawing her attention. A large leg stepped out, and Haneko saw nothing but black.

Hiro felt Haneko slump over onto him slightly. Looking up to see if she was thinking what he was thinking his heart skipped a beat when he saw that her eyes were closed and a large gash had been opened on her forehead. Sitting up straight, he tried to lower her slowly when he heard a grunt from behind them.

By the time he looked up, a large fist was already a mere foot from his face. The contact didn't hurt immediately; all he could make out was that his glasses had broken. Hiro fell backwards, and in the half raised position he had been hit in, he took a few steps, until all of a sudden, there were no more steps to take.

Not even letting out a scream, Hiro started falling down the fourth's faces. The pain from his nose kicked in, but he merely grunted, the adrenaline from falling was helping for the moment. Thinking fast, Hiro pulled every bit of chakra and control that Haneko had spent with him and stuck his hands flat on the rocks, ignoring the cuts and scrapes that dug into his palms.

Slipping down the fourth's cheek, he was definitely falling much slower than before, but still fast enough that he would probably get really hurt. Opening his mouth, Hiro's voice finally decided to work. He let out the loudest shout he could and pumped out the rest of his civilian chakra that he had. His descent was slowed even more, and Hiro managed to stick his foot in a crevice at the corner of the Fourth's lips.

* * *

Standing and giving a class of academy students a lecture in the observatory area for the Hokage monument was a young blonde woman wearing a green vest. The students started whispering and pointing, before finally shouting, causing the now irate teacher to turn her head. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped as she saw the boy, an obvious civilian, fall down the monument face. She watched as his hold in the corner of the Yondaime's mouth gave out, and he tumbled down into a tree. But by the time that had happened, she had already covered half the distance.

* * *

When Hiro woke, the first thing he did was lean over his bed and throw up in a conveniently placed bucket. His forehead started pounding like his brain was trying to escape, and with the memories of how he had come to be like this, Hiro was stressed out.

He only had to wait a few minutes before a pair of doctors he recognized as Uchiha Sakura and Osshi entered his room, both with grim faces. Nervousness crept up Hiro's chest. Osshi glanced at the charts at the end of his bed, and Sakura peeled back the gauze that covered his forehead.

"Is Haneko ok?" He asked, breaking the terrible silence. Sakura sighed. She wiped something that stung over his forehead and replaced the bandages. Osshi pulled the curtains closed, separating them from the other patients, most of whom were sleeping. Glancing at the window by his bed, he noticed that it was dark outside; he must have been out for hours.

"Hiro-san, can you tell me anything at all about what happened? All we've got is a Chuunin and some students who tell us you fell off the top of the Hokage monument." Hiro sat up straighter, suddenly feeling extremely tired. If they were asking him what happened, Haneko was either missing or dead.

"I dunno, she was hugging me one second, and unconscious the next. I noticed that it looked like something had hit here right here-" He pointed to temple "and then I saw a really big man with a really big arm. He punched me in the face, and I fell over the edge. That's all I remember. I didn't get a good look at his face." Sakura looked crestfallen, even Osshi looked disappointed.

"Sorry…" Hiro mumbled. Sakura put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Haneko is still missing. ANBU detained an abnormally large man earlier this evening, but Haneko was nowhere to be found, no chakra traces or scent, or anything. Who ever took her is a professional at not getting caught, that's for sure. All the ANBU had to go on was broken branches and the occasional thread or foot print." Hiro sighed and scratched at his forehead. Sakura slapped the hand away and said,

I had to give you 6 stitches, but other than the concussion you have, you should be fine. Take these before you sleep and when you wake up for the next week. Come back and see me or Dr. Uchiha again and we'll see how those stitches are doing. Now, remember not to scratch them or else." Hiro almost asked, 'or else what' but he knew that if she really wanted to, Sakura could kill him with a single flick of the finger. So the boy wisely kept his mouth shut and was led to his hysterical mother in the waiting room.

* * *

End Chapter 1

Better? Yes? No? I'm changing everything and taking down the other story. I'll try to update more often than once every six months this time, lol. I'll also try to make it less lame. :I


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Byakko was exhausted. Absolutely and completely exhausted. The stress from covering his trail while carrying an unconscious girl for three days straight with no breaks had left him with next to no chakra. He could feel the effects of chakra exhaustion crawling up into his senses, darkening the corners of his vision, and he knew that if he did not find a place to hide out for a few days, he'd be risking his own life as well as Haneko's.

Her head wound was healing faster than he thought was possible in a human, but every other wound was healing at a normal rate, which happened to be not very much due to the constant ups and downs of travelling the white haired boy had been putting her body through.

Glancing over his shoulder, he stretched a very thin tendril of chakra out into the sky and felt around for other signatures in the area. A few squirrels, a pair of deer, and a lone wolf were all that accompanied him. Sighing in resignation, Byakko carefully put the red haired girl on the ground and sat down beside her. Letting his head loll back, he closed his eyes and let the sun warm his face. He was contemplating taking a nap right there, but he had chosen the opening of a small meadow, a ridiculously open place for a ninja to be sitting in. Opening his ruby eyes again this time with great reluctance, Byakko sighed tiredly and hoisted Haneko up onto his shoulder, getting a groan of discomfort from the petite red head. Pausing to shift her into a better position, he stomped through the woods with as much finesse as a civilian, scaring a flock of birds away.

Staring at the small structure as if it would disappear if he took his eyes off of it, Byakko wanted to shout with joy. After his five minute rest in the forest, he had spent the next hour waning in and out of proper consciousness, wishing for somewhere covered that they could spend the night. He took a sharp turn to his right and stumbled through a small patch of trees, right into a clearing with what looked like a rundown old shack. Vines and a tree or two had grown over and through the small structure, but after a quick inspection of the inside showed nothing but a family of foxes living in the what he assumed to be a bedroom, he quickly pulled some of the ratty old blankets from the closet, setting his companion down on them, and before he could say "Byakugan" Byakko was out like a light.

* * *

With a small gasp, Haneko opened her eyes into utter and complete darkness. Finding herself unable to move her arms and legs, fear starting leaking into her being, consuming everything until she realized that she was probably dead. For a second the fear left, but when a wave of pain the size of the fire country slammed into her like a hammer, Haneko screamed as loud as she could. Whatever was trying to kill her was doing an excellent job. Her face was on fire, and something was grinding a hole near her left temple. Her arms felt like someone had driven a thousand nails into them, and her back and chest felt like someone had beaten her with a sack of potatoes.

Her screaming had woken Byakko up quite suddenly, and like any other competent ninja, he was armed and on his feet, standing over the screaming redhead looking for the danger. It wasn't until he had fully awoken did he realize that the girl was probably screaming from the pain. Swearing, he sank down to his knees and grabbed one of her hands. Haneko stopped screaming and broke down into a bubbling mess, tears streaming out of her eyes burning her tender skin on their way down.

"Girl, calm down, it's ok, you're ok..." He stroked her forehead on the side without the rough bandage job and waited until the girl had calmed down enough get out a few sentences.

"W-what h-h-happ-pened?" She managed, although it was obvious how much effort it took. Byakko grimaced and rummaged around the small hidden pockets in this long red scarf. Breaking one of the herbs in half he stuck it in her mouth and instructed her to chew. Haneko, not even caring about the dangers of poison did as she was told. She'd almost rather die that suffer through this sudden onset of pain again.

"There. Good, that will help you sleep again, and help with the pain. You fell out of a tree when that large man was trying to kidnap you. You have a lot of injuries, so I need you to sleep and heal yourself. If you wake up again just call for me. My name is Bya-er... Ghost." Haneko's eyelashes started fluttering, and her attention started to melt away. Of Byakko's speech, she caught nothing, but the soothing motion of his hands on her forehead helped clear her mind. Letting her lids close, all of her pain slipped away with her consciousness and she fell asleep, her breathing even and relatively painless. Byakko sighed. Judging by the darkness, it was the middle of the night, and probably cloudy. Flopping back down beside Haneko he wrapped himself up in the ratty blanket and slept again, intent on exploring the place while his chakra recovered.

* * *

"This is bullshit!" A tall blonde man with striking eyes that at the moment appeared a purple colour slammed his fist down on his desk, scattering papers, inks, and cracking the wood in half. The man standing across from him's face remained unchanged, despite the blonde's obvious anger at him. Pointing an accusing finger towards the other man, he said in a low voice that was almost akin to growling,

"What would you do if it was Osshi, or Sara-chan? Would you just sit here and let your children be taken away from you? She's a Hyuuga, Sasuke, you know what any nation wants from them, and you know what's worse? She's a girl. She'll be turned into a breeding machine at the very least. Are you telling me to condemn my daughter to a life of rape and beatings?" Sasuke frowned at Naruto. The black stripes on his face were wilder than usual, and his hair was even starting to look frayed. The head of the Uchiha clan had to tread carefully to avoid invoking any more the Kyuubi's wrath because he knew very well that the blonde was on the brink and had been for the last three days.

"You're right, of course, I would not be content to stay here and wait for news, but you forget that you are the Hokage, Naruto. You must put the people above the person, even if that person is a loved one. Technically you should not have even put more that the ANBU squad out looking for her. You've now endangered your wife and son." Naruto frowned at Sasuke before sinking into his chair, letting his face rest in his hands. When he next looked up, his blue eyes shone with unshed tears and his stripes had gone back to a rough resemblance of normal. Sasuke marvelled at how Naruto always looked just a little bit younger than himself, despite being the same age.

"If was Baa-chan was here, she'd know what to do. Or even Ero-sennin. Sasuke please, this is my family and they are all that I have." Sasuke let the corners of his passive mouth droop a little. He was known to be a sucker for Naruto's puppy face just as bad as Sakura was, but he remained firm. This would help in the long run.

"Hinata-san and Kouden are both excellent trackers, and the ANBU squad sent has exceptional members. I notified Gaara and he too is sending his best squad. They should be here to be debriefed no later than tomorrow night. We need you here to provide moral support. What would the people think if you broke down just because one of your children is missing? If you aren't strong, the other nations will take advantage of that, and the skirmishes we've been seeing lately with Mist and Rice will definitely become a problem." Naruto gazed down at his desk for a solid minute before solidifiying his expression and sitting straight in his desk.

"You're right. I need to be strong for my little feather, and for this country." Sasuke didn't say anything, but on his way out of the office, he instructed his own personal squads to double the guards on all exits, including the windows.

* * *

Said pair of Hyuuga were currently, and quite angrily sweeping the area where Haneko's chakra had stopped being sensible. Kouden had never seen his mother curse this loudly and colourfully before, that if the situation was different, he might have laughed. He did know for sure that he was going to be cataloguing these away to use as blackmail later on.

The area showed sign of the struggle that the ANBU who successfully captured the Giant man, but other than the giant's word of what he had remembered; there was no trace of Haneko. Her faint chakra signature had disappeared altogether, and even with Kouden's rough imitation of the enhanced smell that Machiko had taught him, he couldn't get a whiff of his younger sister past the particular area.

Slamming a slender fist onto a nearby tree hard enough to crack it, Hinata startled Kouden, who in turn gave his mother an ignored reproachful look. Hinata's face, usually kind and full of love, was now twisted into an angry scowl amplified by the veins that bulged around her pale eyes. Her face was pale and her cheeks were were tinged red, signalling to Kouden how tired she was.

"Mom, let's take a rest." Hinata growled in response sounding a lot like her husband causing Kouden to sigh.

"Mom, seriously. You've had your eyes activated for two straight days, and we've been running nonstop. I'm starting to feel chakra depleted, so I can't even imagine what the hell you are running on. Just for an hour. Please?" Hinata whipped her head around to face her son who now stood almost a foot taller, and resembled his father is all of his glory, except for his very Hyuuga eyes, and his very Hinata nose. Angry tears filled the Hyuuga princess's eyes and instantly Kouden regretted his tone. He hated making his mother cry, it was worse than kicking puppies. Raising his hands, he placed them gently on his mother's shoulders and said,

"Mother, I don't want you killing yourself over this. Neko-chan wouldn't want that. We have to preserve energy or we will miss something important. Remember what it is to be a shinobi. Now let's take a rest. Once we get back to Konoha, I will contact my spies in Kumo and other places, and before long, someone is bound to see her." Hinata let the chakra behind her eyes go, and instantly, her face softened. She still felt horrible. She was getting older, and while she was not yet old enough to be classified as old, she was definitely not young, and she didn't have a jinchuuriki to slow her aging, as what Kyuubi has been doing to Naruto, or so she thought. If she had been younger she might have been able to stop this and avoid all the heart break.

Leaning into her son, she cried like a mother in distress and let Kouden awkwardly hold her.

"Dont call your sister Neko. You know she hates it." Hinata said softly through her tears, and Kouden barked out a weak laugh.

"I'll stop the day she stops being my sister."

* * *

A gust of wind picked up the long sand coloured cloak that hung off a tall woman's shoulders. The cloak whipped about, throwing the hood off and revealing shortly cropped red hair. Sand blew everywhere, getting into everywhere, but for the woman it was an everyday occurance, and she didn't even notice as it made it's way into her clothes and her hair. Standing tall and proud, but rather nonchalant, she gazed at the door to a building that, other than being wider that the other buildings on the street, was still carved out of the ridges of the sandstone canyon. Another gust of wind carried a loud tune along with the sand, and the woman's attention was brought to the building as it's front doors burst open and children around the age of ten streamed out, shouting, chasing, talking, and doing things children generally did.

One child caught her eyes, a young boy, 11 at most, with sandy brown hair and dark eyes, who was currently play-punching one of his friends on the arm. His marbled sand coloured jacket blended in with the scenery, although the woman knew that he inside was reversible to show a marbled green colour, letting him blend in with greenery, should he ever come across it.

His dark eyes found hers, and a giant smile lit his face up. Ignoring his friends, he outstretched his arms and ran towards the woman, intent on jumping onto her.

"Aneeeuuueeeee~!!" He shouted, and the woman put on a smile, accepting the boy's embrace. When all was settled and done, the woman picked at a rather large hole on the boy's sleeve.

"Sado, mother just made this for you last week! What are you going to say to her when she finds out that you have been fighting again?" Sado blushed and looked down.

"He called Dad a monster! I was just defending him! And he..." Sado grimaced and walked past his sister. Unfortunately for him, she had better reflexes than that and grabbed his shoulder. Sighing she said lightly,

"What else did he say?" Sado looked up, but avoided her eyes.  
"He called you some names that really pissed me off. I don't want to say them again, so don't make me!" The woman merely smirked.

"What are you going to do about the jacket? No doubt mother will find out." Sado fingered the hole for a moment or two before saying,

"I...I think I can fix this. It's a little more complex than anything I've done before, especially if I want to do it without mom or dad noticing. But I'll manage. I'll just take it off before we go in the door." The woman didn't say anything, but let her hand gently rest on her brother's shoulder, showing an unusual amount of affection in public. However, despite the 7 year age difference, Sado and his sister got on perfectly.

_Knock knock_. Gaara looked up from the letter in his hands. He had already dealt with it, but it somehow didn't feel like he had put enough effort into it. Gazing at the door for a moment before realizing Matsuri wasn't in the room to open it for him, he calmed his sand (which was getting a little antsy) and called out monotonously,

"It's open." The door creaked open, and after seeing a tall red haired woman walk in alongside a young boy, he relaxed a tad and smiled softly. The boy who took after his mother the most, made a run for his father ignored the sand that tried to act out of instinct.

"Dad! Guess what happened at the academy today!" Gaara calmed the sand down completely and said, almost tenderly,

"What was that?" Sado dove into a story about how he scored a perfect ten on his kunai aiming test, complete with explosions and dinosaurs and everything an 11 year old would think awesome. The woman let a small smile grace her features during her brother's story, but near the end of it she said,

"If that is all Father, I need to attend to my research." Gaara interrupted Sado's story and said,

"Actually, Kaisa, I need you to stay here. I have a mission for you." Kaisa didn't let anything show on her face, but inside she was confused. Sure, she like everyone else in her family, and most of the children in Suna received a formal education as a shinobi, but once she was promoted to Chuunin, she decided that it was not the life for her. She was much more useful in the research teams that Suna was starting to become famous for.

The team researched almost everything, from better cures and vaccinations to poisons and things that everyday ninja might face in the wild, to folklore, civilian customs, and what Kaisa was researching now, Jinchuuriki's and their purpose and history. Really, the entire team was curious, but most of them were afraid of Gaara. The project was forced onto the teenager with the thought that she was the one who would offend him least.

Luckily for the research team, and rather oddly for the teenager, Kaisa became extremely passionate about the subject, almost obsessed, although Sado still receives glares whenever he mentions that.

"A mission, Father?" Gaara gave her a lone nod and looked down to his son.

"Sado, your mother is in the courtyard. She expressed a wish to see you when you came home from the academy." Sado covered his arm and gulped. Sliding off of his father's lap, he ran out the door, forgetting to close it on the way out. Kaisa graciously and wordless did so, leaving the room omnisciently quiet.

"Does this have to do with Naruto-sama? I noticed yesterday that something seemed to be bothering you, and from your expressions, I deduced that it had to do with Naruto-sama." Gaara felt proud that his girl was so much like him.

"Clever. It does indeed. Do you remember his daughter, Haneko?"

"Yes, Althought I was more aqquainted with Kouden-kun and his wife." Gaara ignored the bitterness in Kaisa's tone when she mentioned Sasami. It was a well known secret in the family that Kaisa was still holding feelings for his best friend's son, however futile they may have been.

"Well, it seems that misfortune has struck that poor family again." Kaisa's eyes widened in alarm, and her fingers tightened into a fist behind her back.

"It seems that Haneko has fallen into some trouble. She was kidnapped by an Iwa Shinobi, who then lost her to what we assume to be a competitor for her eyes. We do not have any idea where or whom this second person is, and Konoha's interrogation squad could get no more from the Iwa-nin. I know you are retired, but I find you are very detail orientated and I feel that you might be able to find something that was missed. I would like for you to leave as soon as possible and head to Konoha. Naruto will be waiting with someone there to debrief you and take you to the last place she was able to be tracked too." Kaisa let out the breath she had been holding. She felt a small amount of pity for the Uzumaki blood line and the tragedies that struck them.

"Any thoughts before you leave to prepare yourself?" Gaara asked gently.

"None. I believe that if I am successful in finding Haneko-san, I can use this as a chance to study the effects of Naruto's...tenant in his children." Gaara gave her a sideways look before dismissing her

"Good luck and come back safely, my child."

* * *

END CHAPTER 2

What, lol. I swear i'll finish Arrangments as soon as I can think of an ending that doesnt sound lame D;;;  
I'm half done chapter 3, and lol, going to university and working at the same time is harder than I thought it would be.

~ Mog ((loves you all))


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

Haneko woke with a start, shooting up and jarring both of her arms, causing her to cry out in pain, startling a sleeping Byakko. The white haired boy sat up almost as quickly, intent on helping the girl before she started screaming again. But Haneko, other than the grimace of pain on her face, was staring plainly at Byakko, unnerving him after a moment.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, intent on breaking the menacing look he was getting.

"Why aren't you wearing your mask, and why were you sleeping? I thought ANBU weren't allowed to take their masks off during active duty." Byakko was confused at first, until he realized that she thought she had been saved by Konoha nin. He watched as she looked around the room, squinting in the low light.

"Where am I?" Her head swivelled around to face him again and she raised a delicate eyebrow on a bruised face.

"Er, Haneko-chan, I'm not an ANBU, but my name is Gh-" Haneko cut him off as she caught a glance at his hiteate that he had tied around his waist. He mentally slapped himself, of course she'd spot that. Uttering a little cry, Haneko kicked out and pushed herself back against the wall, managing to land a hit that would have been more effective had she been wearing shoes.

"Oh god, you were sleeping beside me! What have you been doing to me? Oh dammit, I'm going to die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to cover her head with her arms as much as possible. Byakko tried to place his hands on her knee to assure her that he had not done anything to her, but when his hand was just about to touch she said, coldly and fiercely from her protective arm shield,

"I can emit a sharp ray of chakra from any one of my tenketsu's, including where you are about to touch me. How would you like to have all the chakra to your hand cut off?" Byakko froze. He had heard that some Hyuuga could do that, and he most certainly was not going to test that out.

"Listen, Haneko-chan, you are fine, I'm not-" Cutting him off again, she peered from her arms and said with a voice laced with pent up frustration,

"Don't call me Haneko-chan! I'm not a child!" Byakko hesitated. She was certainly acting like a child, trying to kick him every few moments. Finally, Byakko clapped his hands and stood up.

"Fine. I was just going to tell you about the whole situation you are in, but I see that you are going to continue to ACT like child, so I am going to grab some dinner. If you feel up to it, and perhaps, less childish, you may join me. But unless you are going to be civil, I will not treat you like an adult, no matter how old you think you may be." Turning on a heel, Haneko's face lit up like a tomato. He had just talked to her like her father had when she was much younger, and it was frustrating. She was also confused at the kindness, and looking down at her unbound hands, the naivety of this Iwa Nin. Glancing at the window, she unsteadily made her way over to it, feeling like she hadn't taken a step in a week, and tried to push it open. It wouldn't budge. She wasn't sure if it was stuck, or if she was too weak, or a combination of both, but it wouldn't move, and she lowered herself to the floor. Her arms were aching and her head was pounding and she was just becoming aware of a gnawing hole in her stomach. Heaving a shuddering sigh, she dragged herself down the stairs, almost tripping a few times. Entering the small room that was what she supposed a kitchen, she saw Byakko sitting neatly at a small table that looked like it had seen better days. There were no chairs, only stumps, but on top of the table resting on a black fabric wrap, were the leftovers of a cooked rabbit.

When the girl sat at the table, Byakko reached out, causing her to jerk away. She hissed in pain and Byakko sighed.

"Listen, I'm just going to run a small diagnostic jutsu. You seem to be moving your arms ok, but three days ago they were broken clean through." Haneko eyed the boy across from her, but finally held her arms out. Maybe he had something for the pain.

Placing his warm hands on Haneko's arm, she almost immediately felt his chakra enter her flesh. While the feeling was not unfamiliar to her, with her mother and aunt Sakura being medic nins, the white haired Iwa-nin's chakra felt more like extremely thin and lubricated oil, rather than the rough water everyone else's felt like.

Byakko was almost unsurprised to find how healed her arms were. All of the breaks in her both of her arms had fused, correctly, as far as he could tell fortunately, but he could tell that if a hit landed on her arms too hard, they could easily snap again.

Closing his eyes for better concentration, he pushed his chakra up her arms and into her skull. The spiderweb fracture was completely healed, and all that was left was a small bruise on her brain and the skin wounds. Byakko noted that the gashes on her back and the bruises on her face and torso had not healed very much.

"Your body is amazing." He said, as he withdrew his chakra and pulled his hands back. Haneko blushed and sputtered. It took a second to realize what he said, but Byakko's cheeks turned lobster red and he said,

"Er-er, I mean your healing ability. That's some bloodline, you have. Not that I'm not saying your body isn't nice, I mean..." Haneko let out a small embarrassed cry and hid her face. Byakko decided to stop trying to rectify the situation before he made it worse.

"So I was not aware that the Hyuuga's had more than one bloodline. I'm surprised your clan managed to hide it for so long." Haneko, still trying to scrub the red off of her cheeks, frowned a bit and said,

"It's not a kekkai genkai if that's what you are talking about. There are only two Hyuuga who have it, and one of them isn't even part of the clan." Byakko's snowy brows rose.

"Who's the other?" The red haired Hyuuga rested her chin down on the table and said, quite sullenly,

"My brother. He took our dad's last name and is continuing his clan with his wife. I however have to continue the Hyuuga name because my aunt never had children. She was injured in the last great war." Byakko was turning facts around and around in his head.

He knew that the sealing of branch members with the caged bird seal had been abandoned shortly before he himself had been born, but he had heard from other sources that they were still sealed, just not of the kind that would oppress them. He had confirmed this for himself when he spotted the fist sized indigo seal engraved into the back of Haneko's neck, roughly depicting a bird with the symbols. What he didn't know however, was that not only was the seal meant for the branch family, but for the main branch as well.

"So why am I here. Can I at least know your name?" Byakko finished chewing his piece of rabbit, and said,

"You can call me Ghost for now, and I rescued you from that big guy who was taking you away. You fell out from a tree when he was fighting, and so I snatched you without anyone seeing." Haneko ignored the gloating at the end of his sentence and nearly choked on her food.

"Gh-ghost? As in Ghost Child? As in the Ghost Child that is infamous for being able to assassinate anyone without getting caught or even seen, other than his...red scarf and white... hair... oh god I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die..." Byakko rolled his eyes as Haneko continued to mutter to herself, he eyes screwed shut as tight as she could get them, and her hands covering the back of her neck.

"Well I'm actually surprised you've heard of me. I didn't know that I had done enough to warrant being in a genin's bingo book." Haneko stopped muttering and threw a menacing glare his way, sending shivers up the Ghost Child's spine.

"I am not a genin! I am a chuunin and I worked HARD for it! Do you know what it's like to have a Hokage who intervenes with everything to do in your life? Do you know what it's like to have a leader treat you like you are five years old and have to be protected? He wont even let me leave the country, or take missions above C rank! It sucks! I'm nearly 16 years old, I can handle myself!" Byakko burst out laughing. Turning red despite herself, Haneko reached out and slapped Byakko hard enough to leave a red mark. Byakko stopped laughing, looked at her, and started laughing again.

"What the hell is so funny! Stop laughing at me!" Byakko tried to stop, but it took a few moments before he could get his face under control.  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry...It's just, I thought you were 12." Haneko frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew exactly why he would think that, and cursed the gods. She was short, but the same height her mother had been at her age, she was thinner than her mother, but the main difference was her lack of...assets. At age 16 her mother had a full set of knockers, big enough that even with a nondescript and hiding jacket, she still attracted looks from the men. Haneko was as flat as a washboard, her body resembling her Aunt Hanabi's in many ways. Hinata had reassured her that she was just a late bloomer, but it still irked her everytime someone assumed she was a boy or a child.

"You still haven't told me why I am here. You said you rescued me from the Giant, but you are from the same village, and I am obviously not back at home." Byakko sobered his face up and said, in a more formal voice than before,

"I would like to hire your services." Haneko, her thoughts immediately leaping to the one thing all Hyuuga women that served as Shinobi feared. Her face paled this time, and she backed away from Byakko.

"No! I'm not going to let you do anything to me!" Byakko made a questioning face, before realizing what she was talking about. His face turned red, and he started to realize that talking to this girl was going to be awkward if she kept assuming he meant to assault her.

"No, no! I mean, for a mission, you know, with like fighting, and bad guys..."

"Oh... Uhh.."

"I need you to help me with my last mission as the Ghost Child." Haneko's eyes widened.

"Why me?" Byakko put his hands down on the table and said,

"Because I need your eyes, and because I needed a woman. A large part of this mission includes infiltration." Haneko was quiet for a moment.

"Why didn't you put the request through to the Hokage?" Byakko shifted, unsure if he was giving out too much information.

"Because I don't want to involve

Konoha in this. It has to look like Iwa is at fault, as is with your kidnapping. That's all I can tell you for now." Haneko frowned, glancing at the spot where Byakko had removed his belt.

"Why would you do that to your own village? You traitor!" frowning a little, Byakko just sighed and said,

"Let's just say I'm not very patriotic. I can't tell you anymore, I just need to know if you accept or not?"

"What if I say no?" Byakko's ruby eye's hardened, but he didn't say anything. Haneko shivered.

"I don't suppose I have a choice then. How likely am I to be killed?" Byakko shrugged.

"This is an SS class mission so the possibility is there, and as such, if you complete it you will be paid the equivilent. We had to delay the real mission part due to some unforeseen circumstances, so this mission should be over within the next 6 months or so. Maybe a bit longer."

"Six months! You want me to be away from my family for six months, letting them think I'm dead or worse?" Byakko shrugged.

"The Hokage will be sending ANBU after ANBU for me, I hope you realize. He might even come after me himself, although I suspect Uncle Sasuke will probably stop him." She glanced at Byakko who was munching on a rabbit leg, and started picking at her food. Her stomach gurgling loudly, trying to urge her onwards.

"Well... What do we do next?"

"First, we need to let you heal. I don't want to leave until you can run and use chakra properly. I'd say with your rate of healing, at least another week." Haneko pursed her lips and shoved another peice of rabbit in her face. She hated feeling useless. It was worse than the feeling of her father ostracizing her from missions. Dipping low to the table, she felt guilty for being excited about a real mission when her family must be extremely worried, and probably angry. This was a once in a lifetime chance to get out into the world and have stories to tell her children other than how over protective Naruto was.

* * *

Naruto Sneezed miserably, spraying his reports with spittle. Looking down at his paperwork, he crumpled them all up and threw them in the trash.

"O well, it's been ruined." Sasuke sighed. He had assigned himself Naruto's personal babysitter to make sure he didn't go running after his daughter. On his knee, Sasuke was bouncing his third grandchild, Yuurei, and gave a small smile as the boy giggled with glee, and hung onto his sleeves for dear life. The toddler's hair was a fine silver, and if it wasn't for how much he resembled Osshi, and to an extent, Sasuke himself, along with Yuurei's big onyx eyes, he would not have believed that this boy was related to him. On the floor beside him, Both Sasuke and Sakura, or Sasu and Saku, as they were affectionately called by everyone, were laying on their stomach's, doing their home work from the academy.

"Naruto-ji ji, what was the first hokage's name?" Naruto looked down at the Sasuke look alike and said,

"Senju Hashirama." Sasu's face brightened up and he wrote down the answer. Naruto sighed and glanced at his brother in everything but blood.

"Teme, have I ever told you how much Sasu-chan and Saku-chan there look like you and Sakura? It's like being kids again. If only Kaede-chan was a boy." Sasuke frowned.

"Naruto I would ask that you not swear in front of my grand children, and as for Kaede, she looks quite like you as it is. Especially her hair." Naruto gave him a glance that spoke of secrets and mirth.

"Dont be mentioning that. If Hinata, or Kouden, or even Sasami-chan ever found out why I like my little girl's hair, they'd kill me." Sasuke laughed and Yuurei squealed again, gripping Sasuke's sleeve.

"I wont, I promise." Sasuke flashed his friend a smile, but quickly frowned when he saw that Naruto had turned his attention out of the window.

"They'll find her, dobe. Don't worry." Naruto pursed his lips but otherwise said nothing.

* * *

Kaisa pulled on her thin jacket and shivered as she neared Konoha. It was late summer, and a few of the early blooming trees were starting to turn orange a red. While to any average citizen of the fire country, this would be a beautiful summer day, not too hot but warm enough for shorts and tee shirts, Kaisa was from the dessert, and not having to constantly brush sand from her clothes and hair and get used to the humid air of the forests were something it always took her a while to adjust to.

The guards at the gate were as nonchalant and friendly as usual, only requiring her to sign in before directing her to the Hokage's tower. The long climb up the stair that wound around the outside of the building only increased the small pit of nervousness that had started to form. She hoped she wasn't too late to do anything. It had taken her 4 days to traverse across the distance from Suna to Konoha and alot could change in that much time. Nodding at the young woman who sat at a desk outside of the plain brown door, she knocked a few times, before a tall man with raven black hair and wings of grey starting to show opened it. Sleeping against his chest was a small child who looked no older than three years old. The child had fine silvery hair, and was currently sucking on his thumb. Kaisa shifted her stance.

"Is Naruto-sama available?" She asked, plainly unsure if she should have bothered, since she could see him leaning back on his office chair. Before the black haired man could answer, Naruto opened one of his eyes and glanced at her before almost falling off of his chair.

"Kaisa-chan! Come in, come in! I wasn't expecting you!" Kaisa felt a tad embarrassed that her Father had not bothered to warn the blonde, although it was entirely possible that the blonde forgot. It had happened before; it was bound to happen again. Naruto placed his elbows on the table and his hands under his chin.

"What can I do for you, darling?" Kaisa struggled with a blush that was more out of embarrassment than anything else. She snuck a glance at Sasuke, who's face seemed to be set in stone, before quietly protesting,

"Hokage-sama, please. You know I do not like being addressed like that." Naruto just smiled wider.

"I am here to assist what ever teams are searching for Haneko-san. I was specifically pulled back onto active duty to search and see if I may find something the other teams have not." Naruto's expression turned from happy to cold and stony in seconds. She saw the pain in his blue eyes, but held her face still.

"I understand. I can send you out with Kouden as soon as he gets here. He can take you to the area where they lost her scent." Kaisa tried to stifle the blush and beating of her heart when she heard that Kouden was to be the one to escort her, and saluted as stiffly as she could.

"Aww, look Teme. Kaisa-chan still has a crush on Kouden! How cute!" Kaisa faltered and her face, quite against her will, turned beet red and she sputtered, unable to get anything out of her mouth.

"Naruto. Stop teasing the poor girl. Kaisa, I expect you to be at the front gates in 10 minutes, and not a minute later. Uzumaki-san shall meet you there shortly. You are dismissed." Kaisa bowed jerkily towards Sasuke, and threw an approachful glare at Naruto, or at least, a semi-glare, which was as far as she thought she could get. Naruto just grinned and watched her leave.

"What is Gaara going to think when he finds out that you were torturing his daughter?" Naruto shrugged and went through a series of handseals before biting his thumb.

"Probably nothing, because last time we talked about it, he said it was good to embarrass her and try to coax the formality out of her. Honestly, I don't know where she got it from, she was so carefree as a child. Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A puff of smoke and a pop sounded, waking the sleeping toddler in Sasuke's arms. On Naruto's desk, a small toad the size of a fist appeared and saluted the blonde.

"What can I do for ya, Naruto-ni-san?"

"Gamakama-chan! I need you to tell Kouden to meet Kaisa at the front gates and show her where his sister was last seen. Can you do that?" The toad saluted again and disappeared with another pop, causing the still sleeping Yuurei to cry. Naruto sat back in his chair and frowned as he watched Sasuke fuss over his grandson.

* * *

Chapter 3 END

Liek Woah. :3 Okay so here's my issue. I need someone to help me rewrite and finish the last chapter of Unarranged Arrangements. I have been trying to rewrite, and reword, but I just can't do it. Even if this person is more of a muse than anything, I'll be happy. Just send me a PM and I'll give you my email or something with the unfinished chapter and notes. Thank you thank you thank you.


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